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LAW 286

WTO: Law, Policy, and Politics

Law School

Recommended for route(s):

[ Transactional ] Business Law: International

Why it is relevant for ...

[ Transactional ] as a Related Elective for those interested in International Trade : International clients may need assistance in seeking relief from trade barriers or other discriminatory treatment by foreign government agencies or foreign competitors, so it is useful to understand both the WTO and other components of the international dispute resolution system. Students who are sure their focus will be international trade should take one or both of the following courses to understand the operation of the WTO and the role of various U.S. policies in the negotiation of trade agreements: Law, Economics and Policy of Trade; the World Trade Organization (WTO) Law, Policy and Politics.

General course
Description:

This seminar focuses on current legal, political and policy issues related to the World Trade Organization ("WTO"). An analysis of these issues focuses on how the WTO really works from a legal, political and diplomatic standpoint. The course begins with a brief examination of free trade, globalization, and the evolution of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ("GATT") into the WTO. It then looks at how the U.S. Government formulates trade policy and negotiates trade issues and factors that affect negotiations. It then examines the Seattle trade ministerial meeting in 1999 and its failure, and the subsequent Doha Round of negotiations. The course goes on to consider how major substantive issues, such as agriculture, labor, the environment, intellectual property rights and competition are being addressed in the WTO, as well as the manner in which the WTO deals with developing and least developed countries and the effect of unilateralism and regional trade agreements on global trade. In addition to considering major substantive issues facing the WTO, the class also examines structural issues, including, through an examination of major cases, the efficacy of the dispute settlement mechanism. It looks at all of these cases from legal and policy standpoints as well as from "inside" politics.

Course Style: A Substantive course teaches the law, theory, and policy in a particular area of law